Other related coverage

Austrian police today arrested a 73-year-old man accused of
locking his daughter in his cellar for 24 years and fathering seven
children with her.

A prosecution spokesman said Elisabeth Fritzl, 42, had accused
her father, Josef, of "massive crimes". DNA tests are being
conducted on the woman and six surviving children.

It is the third time in recent years that Austria has been
stunned by tales of children locked away by parents or adults they
know.

According to police, Elisabeth Fritzl told investigators her
father put her to sleep with an anaesthetic on August 28, 1984,
handcuffing her in a locked basement.

Officially, she was declared a missing person, with Interpol
opening an investigation.

A letter was sent to her parents asking that they stop searching
for her and local authorities concluded she had been seized by a
religious sect.

She told police she spent years imprisoned in an underground
chamber beneath the family home near the eastern town of
Amstetten.

Elisabeth Fritzl told detectives she was "regularly abused" by
her father and their incestuous relationship produced seven
children.

All the children appear to have been born in grim captivity, but
investigators said one child, a twin, died shortly after birth.
Police said the body was subsequently burned.

Three boys and three girls, now aged between five and 20,
survived. Josef Fritzl legally adopted two boys and one girl.

Josef Fritzl is said to have told his wife, Rosemarie, and local
authorities that three babies had been left by Elisabeth on their
doorstep, in different years.

Each delivery was accompanied by a letter purportedly signed by
Elisabeth Fritzl saying she could not support the child because she
already had others to care for.

The trio went to school as normal, seemingly unaware that their
mother and three other siblings (a girl of 19, and boys at 18 and
five) were trapped underground.

According to ORF national television, the mother and five
children are now in hospital. All are being treated by a team of
psychologists. Reports said the mother was physically frail and
badly disturbed by her ordeal.

Authorities were worried about the health of the mother and
three of her children.

Yet neither neighbours nor social services appear to have had
the slightest inkling. "They had a swimming pool in the garden, we
would hear them laughing, the three of them," said one
neighbour.

Another backed up the story of the babies on the doorstep,
adding: "(Rosemarie) always looked after the kids so well, taking
them to school. We said 'it's incredible what she manages to do at
her age'."

Police said the case only came to light after one of the girls,
19-year-old Kerstin, was admitted to hospital in a critical
condition in mid-April.

Doctors stepped up efforts to find the mother, looking for
background medical information, and Josef Fritzl brought his secret
offspring into the family home.

He is said to have told his wife they suddenly reappeared.
Elisabeth Fritzl told investigators her mother knew nothing about
the sexual abuse she had endured since the age of 11, about seven
years before she was locked away.

Authorities found Elisabeth Fritzl and the three underground
children yesterday evening.

In a cell himself since last night, Josef relented and gave
police the security access codes to the basement tonight.

Police found several rooms 170-centmetres high equipped with
water and a television.

Josef Fritzl had been refusing to answer questions put by
detectives, although Gerhard Sedlacek, a prosecution spokesman,
said Elisabeth's accusations of kidnapping and incest are
"credible".

Austria's most notable prior case was that of Natascha Kampusch,
locked up by a man in the basement of a house for eight years
before she escaped.

Kampusch was 10 when Wolfgang Priklopil abducted her on her way
to school in 1998. The 44-year-old kidnapper killed himself hours
after she fled, throwing himself under a train.

Three young girls were also locked up for seven years by their
mentally ill mother near Linz.

Other related coverage

1209234689448-theage.com.auhttp://www.theage.com.au/news/world/man-had-7-children-by-daughter-in-cellar/2008/04/28/1209234689448.htmltheage.com.auAFP2008-04-28Man 'had 7 children by daughter in cellar'Worldhttp://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2008/04/28/lf_austria_narrowweb__300x368,0.jpg

Police officers lead away a man believed to have locked his daughter in cellar for 24 years (main), while investigators (bottom) examine the house (top).

300368Reutershttp://www.theage.com.au/news/world/austria-reels-at-house-of-incest-revelations/2008/04/28/1209234761412.htmlAustria reels at 'house of incest' revelationstext/html-documenthttp://www.theage.com.au/news/world/austria-reels-as-cellar-hell-is-exposed/2008/04/28/1209234761332.htmlAustria reels as cellar hell is exposedtext/html-document